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Croatian ex-FIFA referee arrested in bribery investigation

Croatian anti-graft police have arrested two senior officials of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) on suspicion of taking bribes and rigging matches. HNS vice-president and former international referee Zeljko Siric was arrested together with the head of the association's referees committee, Stjepan Djedovic. They had also their cars and houses searched. Local media reported that the two officials were detained after taking 30,000 euro ($40,000) in bribes from an undercover agent to fix Croatia's first division matches.

Zeljko Siric was regarded as one of the best Croatian referees and was often appointed to officiate games between local arch-rivals Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split. The Croatian Football Federation dismissed the entire National Referees Committee and mandated the Executive Committee with appointing a new committee as soon as possible. Croatia launched a probe into suspicious games in late 2009 after receiving information from German police. The country's anti-graft prosecutor last December charged 19 Croat and two Slovenian nationals suspected of being involved in fixing first division football matches. They were accused of promising money to club players, coaches and officials to fix results and influence matches. Most of them pleaded guilty and received fines or jail terms.